RGU: Union AGM

Anna Diouri

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RGU Union’s Annual General Meeting was held yesterday, with six motions having been discussed and voted on. Students were given the opportunity to put forward their views on a range of issues and ask questions of the union presidents and vice presidents.

The first motion was to allow 24 hour access to architecture studios near coursework submission dates. Proposing the motion was architecture student Ashley van Huis. In her statement at the AGM, she said “The library is open 24 hours during exam time, so why should it be any different for coursework based students?” After some discussion, the motion was passed.

Motion two, proposed by PR student Rebecca MacDonald, was to introduce hot water facilities on campus. Rebecca said that this would save students queueing at busy periods and paying the 20 pence for hot water at catering outlets. This motion was also passed.

The third motion proposed reducing rent costs for students going into halls. This prompted much debate for and against the proposal. However, once voted on, the proposal was passed.

Motion four, to introduce healthier catering options was also passed. The motion was appended to include a better variety of food which is more affordable and has better labelling for dietary requirements.

The continued funding for RGU: Go Green was submitted as the fifth motion. It was suggested at the AGM that this could help to implement the previous motion of having healthier catering options.

The final motion was the subject of much discussion among students at the meeting. President of the LGBT+ society, Chris Cowie, proposed that gender neutral toilets should be introduced on campus. He said that as there are an increasing number of transgender and gender non-binary students, there should be more to cater for their needs. One transgender student added that they would much prefer using a gender neutral toilet. After the discussion about the issue, the final motion was passed.

Any students with anything they wish to see changed at the university can contact the union or submit their own motions at future years’ AGMs.

All pupils in Scottish state schools will be the first in the world to have LGBT+ history, movements, and issues embedded into their curriculum. This is an historic moment in history as only eighteen years ago local authorities in the UK were banned from ‘promoting’ homosexuality.